Mike McCurry

- Panelist Blurb

Mike McCurry (born October 27, 1954) is best known as the former press secretary for Bill Clinton's administration. He is a Washington-based communications consultant and is associated with the firm Public Strategies Washington, Inc. He is also active within the administration of the United Methodist Church, serving as a lay delegate to the Church General Conference and on various denominational boards. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he was educated at Princeton University and Georgetown University.

McCurry serves on numerous boards or advisory councils for organizations including Share Our Strength, the Junior Statesmen Foundation, Children's Scholarship Fund, the Wesley Theological Seminary, United Methodist Communications and the White House Historical Association. He is co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Those close to McCurry spoke highly of his famous dry humor, his competency, and his kindness as a person. He once responded to the Taco Liberty Bell incident by saying that the federal government was also "selling the Lincoln Memorial to Ford Motor Co. and renaming it the Lincoln-Mercury Memorial." He was well respected by the press corps during his tenure. However, his honesty and competency were not always appreciated by his colleagues. In 1998, he expressed doubts about Bill Clinton's fitness to remain in office.

Starting May 2005, McCurry was a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. As of November, 2008, his most recent contribution was dated May, 2006. In December, 2008, McCurry contributed "How my party found God" to The Daily Beast. In the biographical blurb with the column, it was reported that he was a graduate student at Wesley Theological Seminary.

McCurry is a partner at the influential Washington, D.C. based government relations firm Public Strategies Washington, Inc. In 2006, in his position as co-chairman of Hands Off the Internet, he lobbied against Internet regulations in the controversial network neutrality debate.

On April 15, 2009 it was announced that McCurry and George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer would both work as temporary media aides to Conservative Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper. The two aides were enlisted by the PMO to elevate Harper's and Canada's profiles with American news outlets.